don't wear white, wear gold
by OwlinAMinor
Summary: Leonard is a beaten-down gentleman and Jane is his outspoken maid. It shouldn't work, but it does. McKirk. Oneshot. AU. Fem!Kirk. Inspired by I Don't Want to be a Bride by Vanessa Carlton.


**Title: don't wear white, wear gold**

**Pairing: McKirk (more specifically: fem!Kirk/McCoy)**

**Genre: Romance**

**Summary: Leonard is a beaten-down gentleman and Jane is his outspoken maid. It shouldn't work, but it does.**

**Rating: K+**

**Length: Oneshot**

**AU: Early twentieth century America. Also, fem!Kirk.**

**Dissing of the Claims: Star Trek is not mine. Not even a little. I also don't own the song I Don't Want to be a Bride by Vanessa Carlton, which inspired this story. (The lyrics at the beginning and end are from that song.)**

**A/N: I usually don't ship McKirk, but then, sometimes, I do. And then I have to go and listen to Vanessa Carlton, and things like this happen. I honestly don't know. The story is pretty much all dialogue because ... Honestly, if I tried to write this as a full-fledged story, it would turn into this gigantic, multi-chapter mess and I'd never finish it. So, yeah. Enjoy.**

* * *

_But I don't wanna wear white,  
Oh, you know it's too late for that._  
_But can we keep the ever after?_  
_Oh, could it be_ j_ust you and me?_

* * *

There's a new tenant in apartment seventeen B.

"Hello? Helloooo? Anyone home?"

"Who the hell's this? Get out, I don't want to see anyone."

"I'm Jane Kirk - the maid."

"I don't need a maid."

"Like hell you don't. I've got five more places to clean after yours, so let me in before I kick the door down."

"... Fine. You have ten minutes."

* * *

The place is so cluttered it would take an archaeologist years to find any sign of healthy life, its owner gruff and scowling beneath an unshaven face.

"So, what's your story?"

"Don't have one."

"Come on. Lone gu

* * *

y moves into new place, doesn't speak to anyone, doesn't even step out of the door? You a hermit or a criminal or something?"

"No."

"Do you even have a job?"

"Don't need one."

"Oh, a gentleman, huh? Wouldn't've guessed it. You're pretty rude for a gentleman."

"Look, would you stop asking questions?"

* * *

Any of the other maids would've complained, requested a different assignment, but Jane likes a challenge - and besides, the man's pretty good-looking, under that beard.

"So, what's your name, anyway? So's I don't have to keep calling you 'that strange hermit in seventeen B' in my head?"

"McCoy."

"First name. I never call blokes by their last names, not if I can help it."

"And you call me rude!"

"Not rude, just empowered. It's hard to keep your self-respect as a women when you're a maid and a barista, so I do what I can."

"Oh."

"Hey, at least I'm making money - enough that if I save, I can travel the world, one day. Not all of us are born with trust funds, ya know?"

"... Leonard."

"Excuse me?"

"My name. It's Leonard McCoy."

"Charmed, I'm sure."

* * *

There's a certain mystery to a man who lives alone, especially if he's wealthy, and Jane's a curious girl.

"What's a gentleman like you doing in a place like this, anyway? Shouldn't you be out running a plantation somewhere?"

"Don't have one anymore."

"That 'anymore' promises a story. Spill."

"My ex-wife took it. And most of my money. And my daughter. All I've got left is my bones."

"Bones."

"What?"

"That's what I'm gonna call you. Bones - hard and hollow."

* * *

Jane starts to look forward to cleaning seventeen B, despite the fact that it's easily the messiest apartment in the building.

"You know something, Bones?"

"What?"

"I've never seen you smile. What's up with that?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"A lot. You should be happy, or at least try. Besides, I bet you'd look a lot more handsome if you smiled."

"Oh. Well, how's this?"

"Too fake, but a good start."

* * *

Leonard gets a job as a doctor at a nearby hospital, and Jane stops trying to pretend to herself that she doesn't like him.

"Hey, Jane?"

"Yesss?"

"I was wondering if ... Ah ..."

"Hurry it up, Bones, I've got rooms to clean."

"If you'd like to ... Have dinner with me tomorrow."

"You won't cook, I hope."

* * *

Leonard takes Jane to the most respectable restaurant in the city, where Jane is a pair of jeans in a store full of ball gowns, but doesn't seem to care.

"You opened the door for me!"

"... I did. So?"

"I've never had a door opened for me before. Do it again."

"I guess ... Sure."

"Maybe you _are_ a gentleman after all, Bones."

* * *

Nobody thinks it'll work - the beaten-down, broken gentleman and the outspoken, headstrong maid - but it does, better than they'll admit.

"Well, my fair, petulant, little lady, might I have the honor of this dance?"

"Sure, why not?"

"... Do you even know how to dance?"

"I definitely know how to dance!"

"Then why are you trying to lead?"

"... Oh."

"Right. Look, just step like this ... One, two, three, one two, three ..."

"Where'd _you_ learn to dance like this?"

"They don't call me a gentleman for nothing, Jane."

* * *

Before they know it, a year has past, and a gentleman who once believed he had lost everything is starting to smile again.

"Jane."

"Why so serious, Bones? Are you cheating on me?"

"No, I ... If I asked you to marry me, what would you say?"

"An upstanding doc like you, marry a low-class hellion like myself? It couldn't be done."

"But ... If I asked, anyway?"

"I don't want to be a bride, Leo. Marriage means white dresses and golden rings and huge ceremonies and kids and a house and growing old together. I don't want to grow old together - I want to stay young forever, together. Marriage is for boring people, not people like us. We're too good for marriage. We don't need to be tied down."

"As someone who's had a marriage go terribly wrong ... I can't say I disagree with you."

* * *

And then, one day, the time comes to pack up the contents of seventeen B.

"Oh, my God, we're going to New York City! New York! City! I can't even believe it! And then London, and Paris, and Rome, and ..."

"And then anywhere you want - anywhere at all."

"Even space?"

"Not space. There's no way to get into space."

"Not yet. But for now, the world will have to be enough."

"I should certainly hope so."

* * *

Jane watches the world - vast and marvelous - and Leonard watches Jane - tiny and unafraid.

"You know, you don't have to hold onto my hand so tightly. I'm not gonna run away any time soon."

"You aren't?"

"_Bones._"

"... Oh."

* * *

Sometimes, love doesn't need to be put into neat little boxes, folded and ironed and tied with a bow. Sometimes love simply ... Is. It's a smile, a laugh, a bottle of wine that lasts an entire evening. It's denying all expectations and traveling the world, hands clasped. It's the words unspoken, the glances shared, the kiss that tastes of fresh apples.

Few are this lucky - and, oh, don't they know it.

* * *

_Built a poem, we kept a rhyme,_  
_Wrapped our love in golden twine._  
_We wrote, __wrote a legacy,_  
_Just you and me._


End file.
